Antigua - Classic Race Week

24 April 2008, Antigua

Arriving in Antigua feels welcoming. The wind and swell have somewhat settled, allowing us a glorious, albeit slow, sail from Montserrat. I almost forgot how comfortable sailing can be. The water is many shades of turquoise blue, lined with white sand beaches and the coast dotted with bays for anchoring. Visitor brochures claim that Antigua has 365 beaches – one for every day of the year. We will sample as many as we can during our planned 3 week stay. Antigua is nice because it has a bit of everything. History tied to Lord Nelson, who was stationed here early in his career (hating it) in late 18th century, remnants of sugar plantations and rum distilleries, incredible beaches and even an amazing cricket stadium for sport fans. And let’s not forget the amenities – supermarkets for provisioning and a laundry, sorely needed by us after three weeks. I like the way laundry is done here. Drop off three bags of dirty laundry with a dinghy in the morning, pick up three bags of clean laundry at lunch time. Very civilized.

And let’s not forget the internet. It is a bit of a hit and miss to get free wireless on the way, but so far we have been able to keep in touch on a regular basis. But in Falmouth Tatiana got to Skype some of her friends and that made her very happy (and no, she is not drinking beer!).

The Classic Race Week is on, and Falmouth Harbour is jam-packed with boats either racing or watching. We join the crowd of ogglers. The classic boats are magnificent, although only a few are really original classics. Most are brand new, high end, classic racing machines, manned by paid crew. The size of the equipment on these boats is incredible – we saw winches 0.5m in diameter! The spare equipment – chains, anchors, sails and anything else heavy, is lying on the docks to lighten the load for the races and crews are busy cleaning and polishing at the end of the day. Then its party time.

After a few days of hanging around Falmouth and English Harbour, exploring Nelson’s dockyard with all its restored buildings and shipyard equipment and scrambling up to Shirley Heights for an incredible view (Blue Moon is somewhere down there), it is time to explore further up the coast. It is only an hour sail up to Mamora Bay tucked in behind a reef, but we get to see the first dolphins under our bow and whales splashing in the distance. Mamora has a nice resort and apparently we can get “room service” on the boat if we tie up on their dock. But I must be turning cheap (the ultimate cruising life is rubbing off on me) and choose to anchor and cook instead. We switch our usual positions and this time I am dropping the anchor and Kuno is driving. And wouldn’t you know, we drive over the dinghy line, wrapping it in the propeller. I guess there is a first for everyone! Luckily no damage is done and the line untangles quite easily. Every opportunity is good for a rum punch and this one calls for a strong one. We observe a family of birds trying to make a nest inside our boom for a while and then its off to the resort beach and join in a game of volleyball. Another day in paradise, with all its challenges and pleasures.